On July 25, one week after the San Diego LGBT Pride parade, more than 150 women on foot, motorcycles and bikes made their way east on University Avenue to Ray Street for the 2008 Dyke March.

The crowd of women gathered at The San Diego LGBT Community Center, where Pat Washington, president of the Democratic Women’s Club, kicked off the day-long event.

“Our theme this year was ‘Activate, Celebrate, Demonstrate, Elevate!’ and that’s what we were trying to do – activate the crowd, celebrate diversity, demonstrate that dykes are visible and present in San Diego, and elevate everyone’s spirits with a great day of programming,” said Abby Schwartz, the organizer for the march.

As was the case with the year’s Pride festivities, there was a focus on Proposition 8, the November ballot initiative that would ban same-sex marriage; and the upcoming presidential election.

“Kristi Shaw from The Center hosted a marriage equality workshop, artist Gina Grossini was printing ‘No on 8’ T-shirts and bags on site, and volunteers from The Center were registering people to vote and signing up marriage advocacy volunteers,” Schwartz said.

Schwartz said, in large numbers, attendees were women, though some men joined the march and ensuing festival.

“A few of the community organizations (San Diego Democratic Club, Stonewall Citizens Patrol, the Bike Kitchen, etc.) that had tables at the festival had male members present, but the crowd/marchers were mostly female,” she said. “However, a few of our trans brothers really helped us out with set-up, break-down and other volunteer tasks.”

Kathleen Stavis, the volunteer coordinator for the march, said she hopes to see more people out next year. One reason for the low attendance for the march may be the fact the event hasn’t been held on a recurring date each year. Approximately 300 people attended the festival throughout the day.

“I think the change in the timing for Dyke March has had an impact on attendance, for sure, because it hasn’t been the same from one year to the next,” Stavis said. “In San Francisco [Dyke March] is always the Saturday before Pride. Everybody knows that – no one has to look at their calendar. The San Diego march has to be established as such instead of toggling back and forth.

“I also think that it is extremely important that the dyke community and the people who support the dyke community come out to support Dyke March. I heard so many people say, ‘We don’t go to Dyke March because Pride is bigger.’ Dyke March is about radically speaking out for our rights as to who we are – and in order to do that it takes solidarity in the community, and women in San Diego need to have more of that.”

Similar to what transpired at the Pride parade, a motorcycle contingent of women did not lead the Dyke March.

“There was a little bit of confusion at this year’s march,” Stavis said. “But that was due largely in part to the police. [Dyke March] is not a permitted march, and so the police were there, supposedly, to let us safely go through the street. In the end it seemed like they just made everything much more difficult and destroyed the flow of what was planned – which is why they Dykes [on Bikes] didn’t really lead this year’s march.”

Despite the bumps in the road, Stavis said the march was a success, and has high hopes for future marches.

“[San Diego Dyke March] is continuing to grow, and so while it’s still a small Dyke March compared to marches that take place in the larger cities in the rest of the country,it’s continuing to grow and that’s a positive direction,” she said. “The festival was fun and celebratory and joyous – it had this ‘good day out’ kind of a feel.”